Dictionaries for International Ispell

Many people have contributed dictionaries and affix files to allow
ispell to be used with their native languages.
These are listed below. Unlike the languages/Where file
in the distribution, this list includes only dictionaries that are
actually intended for use with ispell.

Some of the affix files distributed with ispell are identical to or
are based on the affix files at the ftp sites listed below.

Older affix files from some of these sites will require changes to the
defstringtype and altstringtype statements to
specify a deformatter before they will work with ispell 3.1. This is
done by adding a new quoted string, "TeX" or
"nroff", after the first quoted string in the statement.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING "OBSCURE" LANGUAGES: Kevin
Scannell of St. Louis University is collaborating with a number of
people to develop word lists for minority languages using automated
techniques. If you don't find a word list below, it is worth visiting
his site to
check for the latest status and updates.

Please do not write me asking where to find dictionaries that are not
listed on this page. Everything I know is posted here. On the other
hand, if you find an error or broken link in the page, or if you know
of a dictionary that is not listed, please do send mail to
geoff@cs.hmc.edu so that I can
update this page.

An
updated version of the Cermak dictionary and affix
file, submitted by Petr Kolar. This dictionary accepts
over 3 times more word forms than the earlier dictionary.
The
README file (in Czech) is very detailed and should
tell you all you need to now.

An advanced
dictionary
and
affix file
produced by Jaak Pruulmann in cooperation with the Estonian
Language Institute.
I'm told that this is the best Estonian dictionary to date
(late 2005).

A dictionary
and affix file
created by Pearu Peterson in 2001.
There is also a
Debian
package created by Andres Soolo. However, Andres
informs me that this package is outdated, and that users should
download Jaak Pruulmann's work instead.

For Windows users, Luzius Schneider has provided a
complete
package containing ispell along with a large
collection of languages.

Perhaps because German was my first test language, there are plenty of
German dictionaries available. I don't have a lot of
hints for choosing between them, but I believe that Heinz Knutzen's
version, being the most recent, is probably the best.

Incidentally, if you choose a dictionary that uses the
"wrong" umlaut notation of `"a' instead of the
`a"' that ispell expects, you can convert it with the
following ugly sed command:

sed 's/"\(.\)/\1"/g' wrong-dictionary > proper-dictionary

(I'd suggest that you use cut-and-paste directly out of this Web page
to make sure you get it right.)

A new
(1999) version of Heinz Knutzen's
dictionary, incorporating the new German spelling rules
that went into effect in August of 1998. This version is
by Björn Jacke. The same URL also contains a Swiss
dictionary.

An improved version of the
dictionary
developed by Martin Schulz,
compiled and corrected by Heinz Knutzen, from
ftp.informatik.uni-kiel.de.
The tar file includes an affix file, which will probably
be needed to build the hash file correctly.

A very specialized
Latin
dictionary that was created to check the full edition
(about 500 pages) of the works of the Renaissance
mathematician Maurolico. The README is in French. This
dictionary might serve as a useful starting point for
other scholars.

For Windows users, Luzius Schneider has provided a
complete
package containing ispell along with a large
collection of languages.

The Norwegian
spelling project is extending the dictionary created
by Rune Kleveland. If you click on "Files", you will find
links that you can use to download the current release.
As well as Bokmål (ispell-nb), you can build a Nynorsk
(ispell-nn) dictionary. RPMs may also be available from
rpmfind.net,
and there is a Debian package that can be acquired with apt-get.

For Windows users, Luzius Schneider has provided a
complete
package containing ispell along with a large
collection of languages.

Amos Batto has produced a comprehensive Quechua package.
(If you don't know, Quechua is a native Bolivian language.)
He provides descriptions in
Spanish
and
English,
a
hash file
(which may or may not work on your machine, due to
the unfortunate nonportability of ispell hash files), and a
ZIP
archive containing the affix file and word list
(which you can use to create a working hash file with
buildhash).

Ionuț Păduraru has created a
dictionary
that covers nearly every Romanian word.
He has provided a brief
explanation
(in Romanian).

George Pauliuc has taken over Mihai Budiu's Romanian dictionary.
There is a new
tar file
available from sourceforge.net.

Mihai Budiu has kindly provided what he describes as a
"modest"
Romanian dictionary
for use with ispell. The
compressed
tar file
includes an affix file and some auxiliary scripts. There is also
a README
file in Romanian, which is unfortunately stored on an unreliable
server.
The tar file is also mirrored on
ftp://ftp.pub.ro/pub/spell-roman/spell-roman.taz,
which Mihai tells me is on the same unreliable server.

For Windows users, Luzius Schneider has provided a
complete
package containing ispell along with a large
collection of languages.

A constantly-improving Russian
dictionary
from Alexander Lebedev,
based on Neal Dalton's version (below). This dictionary
contains 120,400 roots and recognizes over 1,149,000 words. The
author says "This package seems to be the only one that
supports the right spelling of words with the Russian letter
'yo' (other dictionaries simply replace the letter 'yo' by
'ye')."
An
earlier version of this dictionary is mirrored at
sunsite.

A very preliminary 50,000-word
dictionary,
from
sunsite.unc.edu, created
by Neal Dalton.
The tar file includes an affix file, which needs to be
corrected before it will work.
You must comment out the second
wordchars line (the one just after the comment
about GOSTCII-8).
The dictionary is also
mirrored
at ftp.cs.umd.edu.

A
dictionary
maintained by Santiago Rodriguez and Jesus
Carretero at the University of Madrid.
The tar file includes an affix file, instructions, and
TeX hyphenation rules for Spanish.
More information can be gotten from their
Web page.

Sadly, all of the Swedish dictionaries I used to link to
have disappeared from the Internet. I did find a
Debian page that contains copies of a Swedish
dictionary, but I don't know how easy it will be for
non-Debian users to install them.

For Windows users, Luzius Schneider has provided a
complete
package containing ispell along with a large
collection of languages.